Senior CBI officer is the 'mole': Ranjit Sinha to SC

A senior Indian Police Service officer in Central Bureau of Investigation is the ‘mole’ who supplied documents and file notings to advocate Prashant Bhushan on the basis of which ‘false and baseless’ allegations were made, agency chief Ranjit Sinha claimed in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The four-and-half hour proceedings witnessed high-voltage drama and heated exchange of words with counsel appearing for Sinha and Bhushan losing their temper often and the bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had to intervene.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the director, submitted that the allegations levelled are baseless and false and placed confidential files of 2G probe to substantiate his arguments that Ranjit Sinha had not tried to save any accused in the case.

He said the file notings and documents, on the basis of which Non-Governmental Organisation Centre for Public Interest Litigation filed the petition seeking probe against the Director, was supplied by a DIG-rank officer Santosh Rastogi.

"It is very clear that Rastogi is supplying all the information. He is the mole in CBI," Singh submitted. Vikas Singh, however, did not give explanation Sinha's frequent meetings with the various accused when senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Bhushan and the NGO, said that the Director himself had admitted the meetings in his interviews with media.

The NGO had expressed its inability to reveal the whistle blower to the court saying that 'The trust (of whistle blower) is sacrosanct and if it is broken, then nobody would come forward to give information'.